Results 1 to 12 of 12

Thread: Questions about taxes And w2s

  1. #1
    Good Monday morning to all. I was fortunate enough to get a couple of w2s this year adding up to a total of 16000. When the tax man comes around next year, do any of you have any tips on how to lower my bill. Yes, I will use my win/lost statement to claim against my winnings but are there any other tricks (legal tips only .

  2. #2
    Lucky--if you didn't keep a log all year then you are pretty much just going to have to wing it. The win/loss statement is of little value.

    There are some good books that set forth exactly what you need, and I'm sure that you can google it, but the basics are:

    1. Daily record of the time on each machine, denomination, serial number, win/loss on each machine and session during that day.
    2. If you itemize deductions on Schedule A of your tax return, then you can offset losses against your gross win. You cannot create a loss--the deduction is limited to the amount of your win.
    3. If you do not itemize deductions (i.e.--you use the standard deduction), you are out of luck unless you are a professional gambler in which case you would use Schedule C.
    4. Assuming you have not kept a log, but you do file Schedule A, just offset your losses and hope for the best. If you can re-create some degree of a log, do so and hope that you are not audited. Maybe you at least know what dates that you gambled.
    5. Don't forget that all gambling winnings are taxable, not just "signers". Most people do ignore winnings other than signers and I am not saying yes or no, but keep that in mind.
    6. Don't forget to claim any taxes (state or fed) that may have been withheld on any signers.

  3. #3
    Thanks regnis.... No log here, I mean how many of us do. I am going to itemize and hope for the best.

  4. #4
    Answer this question: do you have a loss or a profit on the year? If you have a loss you will report the loss. If you have a profit you will report the profit. You also must report wins not on a W2G.

    Will you get audited for having a few W2Gs for $16,000? Unlikely but it could happen.

    Besides a log your own checkbook register can show your losses as can ATM receipts.

  5. #5
    I am in the red this year( not by much)....I did not keep my atm receipt, should have kept em. In all honesty, how many of us report "wins" that doesn't involve w2s......I prefer table games, no paper trail..

  6. #6
    You should be able to tell your ATM withdrawals from the detail on your bank statements. If you don't have those you may be able to access them online at your bank's website for at least the last several months (depends on the bank) or you may have to request copies from your bank.

  7. #7
    From what I've read the IRS generally takes casino win/loss statements. No guarantee, but it seems to be happening more and more. Always better to have a log that agrees with the w/l statement.

  8. #8
    There's a lot of hearsay out there on this topic lucky, and while some of it might be helpful most isn't. Here's what I discovered from several face-to-face somewhat grueling audits:

    Your personal gambling log is the most important of documents to the IRS. If you didn't keep a contemporaneous one then simply put one together from memory right now.

    You are supposed to keep track of ALL winnings and report them, whether $2 or $2000, as Alan said. You are also not suppose to make up losses in order to offset all of your reported winnings when you itemize deductions. However, the IRS will never know if you do.

    What's also important to them is a cash trail: where'd you get the cash from for this casino trip or that casino trip....and if you won money what did you do with it? If you just say you keep a bunch of cash around the house then they look at that as a negative since you have no trail. It won't in and of itself cause you trouble, but several of these negatives is all it takes for mistrust & deeper digging.

    Several times the IRS has told me those casino win/loss statements mean nothing to them. They wouldn't even accept mine as support. They said there is no guarantee a 3rd party report is accurate, and they have no idea if you've ever played without inserting a slot card for tracking anyway. This makes perfect sense.

    Finally, why even worry about an audit? Unless your return has a red flag such as a causality/theft loss or outrageous business expense deductions or you have a 7-figure income, you overwhelmingly won't ever be bothered. Besides, the extreme Obama administration's corruption has seriously weakened the IRS's capabilities these days, and the gridlock within the agency is at an all time high now that they're charged with enforcing the healthcare fines.

    Here's a bonus hint to take or leave, for those worry warts out there: ten years ago my IRS source suggested I include a slight math addition/subtraction error in my figures with every years' tax returns. This throws the return into chaos, as either your refund will be a little more or you will owe a little less. It also gets your return put into an "already reviewed" status which simply means it was reviewed for accuracy by the computers. Once this process is completed and you've settled the small difference, unless you have one of those glaring flags, your return will end up in the non-audit pool.
    Last edited by Rob.Singer; 11-24-2015 at 08:02 AM.

  9. #9
    Rob--don't give out all of the secrets. I have made a math error on my return every year for as long as I have known about that trick. Sometimes I make it in my favor, but it is even better to err in favor of the IRS.

  10. #10
    Originally Posted by regnis View Post
    Rob--don't give out all of the secrets. I have made a math error on my return every year for as long as I have known about that trick. Sometimes I make it in my favor, but it is even better to err in favor of the IRS.
    Agreed.

    Everyone please ignore what I said, much like a jury is instructed to when evidence in a courtroom is presented that might hurt either side's case.

  11. #11
    I was told that if you owe a balance to the IRS your chance of an audit drops dramatically. I was told this: your return can't be in two places at one time. Either it's in collections or it's in audit. Any truth to this?

  12. #12
    Most years I have to send in some chump change because of my addition/subtraction errors I purposely make. I've not had an instance where they've ever gone into audit afterwards.

    It's curious that the 3 years where I had audits started, none of those returns had any math errors. Also, I've been told that when you have no employment income, your chances of an audit decreases to almost nil.

    I don't know if a return can be in 2 places at the same time. Seems like they can but it would have to be unusual.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •